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The 8 Winners and 4 Losers of San Diego Comic-Con 2026
We survived another San Diego Comic-Con! This year saw the return of Marvel Studios to Hall H in celebration of Avengers: Doomsday and the MCU’s future. There were some notable firsts: horror master Mike Flanagan made his SDCC debut, and Apple TV got its own Hall H moment to highlight its genre shows.
And then, well, other stuff was not so great! Here are the winners and losers of SDCC 2026 in the eyes of io9.
The new DC show Lanterns hit the rare Comic-Con trifecta. Incredible panel with great footage? Check . Jaw-dropping offsite experience that immersed fans in the world of the show? Check . How about bringing fans who aren't in town into the fun with an exciting new trailer release? Checkmate .
If any other property hit one or maybe even two things at the convention, it would be a success. But Lanterns even took things a step further. There was even a themed charging station near the convention center letting people charge their phones like Hal Jordan needs to charge his ring. How perfect is that? Yes, Lanterns did Comic-Con right.
We'll admit it. Marvel Studios' Hall H panel probably didn't live up to the insane hype it had going into it. Does it ever, though? While we didn't get news of an X-Men cast or any new footage released online, we did get a lot of hugely exciting and surprising news in the form of a Ryan Gosling Ghost Rider movie, a new Black Panther, and a fantastic Deadpool tease. Sure, the studio has done more in the past, but that was pretty great.
Those in the room got an even better experience, with a very exciting Avengers: Doomsday presentation, and there was a lot of buzz created by the Latverian Witch costume at the Marvel Studios booth, which changed every single day. Very few booths demand that kind of repeat business and coverage, but Marvel nailed that too. Plus, once the panel concluded, toys and collectibles from the film were revealed at booths across the floor .
So no, it wasn't the world-changing presence fans dreamed up in their minds, but it was still above and beyond. Especially for those lucky enough to witness it in person.
With still about a year until release, the highly anticipated Spaceballs sequel wasn't quite ready to release footage to the world. But, instead, it delivered an incredibly hilarious in-person panel , lots of photo opps around the convention center, and, most importantly, one of the best jokes of the entire con.
Perfectly setting up the sci-fi parody, the team behind Spaceballs: The New One joked about how the film would start its own cinematic universe called "The Almighty Schwarz Saga," aka the ASS. Then, they revealed even more plans for what they referred to as the "ASSwhole." The hundreds of jokes spoofing Marvel Studios' penchant to announce future movies created a viral sensation almost as good as new footage. You can see all the official images below.
Fresh off the Hall H stage at #SDCC , introducing the Whole Almighty (A) Schwartz (S) Saga (S) — one A.S.S.whole stretched across 11 phases of #Spaceballs . pic.twitter.com/li3GxWDWJH
— Spaceballs (@SpaceballsFilm) July 25, 2026
Very few filmmakers can command a convention like Guillermo del Toro. The Oscar-winning director of The Shape of Water came to Comic-Con 2026, not with a new film, but for the 20th anniversary of arguably his most famous film, Pan's Labyrinth . And through viral marketing, offsite events, and a killer Hall H panel , del Toro did his best to drum up interest in the re-release. The fact he made it very clear that the 3D conversion of the film wouldn't be done with AI sure helped, too.
One of the most exciting horror creators working today made his SDCC debut—yes, it was his first time at the convention—to talk about Carrie , his upcoming Stephen King series for Prime Video. Not only did he announce the date (October 7) and reveal the teaser , he also unveiled several in-room exclusive clips for appreciative fans, with several Carrie cast members also onstage to help bring context and excitement for what looks like a creative and contemporary adaptation of King’s novel.
Flanagan, lest we forget, also penned the script for Clayface , one of the few DC Studios movies to get an SDCC moment to shine (more on that below). So overall it was a win-win for Flanagan himself and all the Flana-fans too.
Prime Video had previously kept pretty tight-lipped about its new Blade Runner series, and now we know why: it was saving the big reveal for Hall H. A stunning first teaser trailer revealed the show’s cinematic visuals—including the “sunshine noir” of its dystopian world—and stars Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer brought some star power to the stage.
We were already excited to see Blade Runner 2099 thanks to the built-in goodwill of the franchise, but now we’re even more intrigued by what the streamer has cooking up.
Apple TV’s first Hall H panel provided a fitting platform for what’s become one of the most reliably great destinations for genre fans. Current hit Silo got a big showcase, with Tim Robbins emerging at the end to talk about his not-dead-yet character. The upcoming second season of Dark Matter got a solid tease, with an action-packed first trailer and Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly leading a cast and crew discussion .
But for us, the highlights were the surprise tease of Neuromancer , which wasn’t previously announced as part of the panel, and a catch-up with the creators and several cast members of recent horror breakout Widow’s Bay . As the audience shrieked in appreciation, you could tell everyone onstage was clearly still reeling from both the show’s viral success and its impressive haul of Emmy nominations.
While there had been rumors that Comic-Con International might be scouting around for a new city to host its flagship event, we can put those to bed for now. As SDCC 2026 got underway, it was announced that the event is officially staying put in San Diego through at least 2030 .
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